Dynamically created network sites

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are various embodiments for dynamically generating a network site for a topic. A set of search terms that are associated with one or more search engines are obtained. A respective set of items in an item catalog that are relevant for each of the search terms are identified. A respective network site is established for each of the search terms when the respective set of items includes at least a predefined number of items. The respective network site offers at least some of the respective items for sale.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of, and claims priority to,co-pending U.S. patent application entitled “DYNAMICALLY CREATED NETWORKSITES,” filed on Oct. 25, 2010, and assigned application Ser. No.12/911,505, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

A meta-shopping site is a network site that allows customers to browseitem offerings from a variety of online merchants. Customers may thendecide to purchase items based, for example, on price comparisons,shipping costs, item availability, item selection, and/or other factors.Typically, merchants supply a data feed representing their onlinecatalog to the meta-shopping site. When a customer seeks moreinformation about an item or wants to purchase the item, the customermay be redirected to a network site of the respective merchant.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Many aspects of the present disclosure can be better understood withreference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings arenot necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearlyillustrating the principles of the disclosure. Moreover, in thedrawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding partsthroughout the several views.

FIG. 1 is a drawing of a networked environment according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a drawing of an example of a user interface rendered by aclient in the networked environment of FIG. 1 according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 3-5 are flowcharts illustrating examples of functionalityimplemented as portions of a dynamic site management applicationexecuted in a computing device in the networked environment of FIG. 1according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating one example of functionalityimplemented as portions of a network page server executed in a computingdevice in the networked environment of FIG. 1 according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram that provides one exampleillustration of a computing device employed in the networked environmentof FIG. 1 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure relates to dynamically generating network sitesthat are customized for particular topics. In one embodiment, suchtopics may be obtained from lists of popular search terms that arepublished by search engines. An item catalog may be searched for itemsthat are relevant to a topic. If a sufficient number of relevant itemsare found, a dynamically managed network site may be established. Thenetwork site may offer the relevant items for sale. In some embodiments,relevant external item offerings from external network sites may bedetermined and also featured in the network site. In variousembodiments, the computing resources that are allocated to the networksite may be managed automatically. In the following discussion, ageneral description of the system and its components is provided,followed by a discussion of the operation of the same.

With reference to FIG. 1, shown is a networked environment 100 accordingto various embodiments. The networked environment 100 includes one ormore computing devices 103, one or more computing devices 106, one ormore computing devices 109, one or more computing devices 112, one ormore computing devices 115, and one or more clients 118 that are in datacommunication by way of a network 121. The network 121 includes, forexample, the Internet, intranets, extranets, wide area networks (WANs),local area networks (LANs), wired networks, wireless networks, or othersuitable networks, etc., or any combination of two or more suchnetworks.

The computing device 103 may comprise, for example, a server computer orany other system providing computing capability. Alternatively, aplurality of computing devices 103 may be employed that are arranged,for example, in one or more server banks or computer banks or otherarrangements. For example, a plurality of computing devices 103 togethermay comprise a cloud computing resource, a grid computing resource,and/or any other distributed computing arrangement. Such computingdevices 103 may be located in a single installation or may bedistributed among many different geographical locations. For purposes ofconvenience, the computing device 103 is referred to herein in thesingular. Even though the computing device 103 is referred to in thesingular, it is understood that a plurality of computing devices 103 maybe employed in the various arrangements as described above.

Various applications and/or other functionality may be executed in thecomputing device 103 according to various embodiments. Also, variousdata is stored in a data store 124 that is accessible to the computingdevice 103. The data store 124 may be representative of a plurality ofdata stores 124 as can be appreciated. The data stored in the data store124, for example, is associated with the operation of the variousapplications and/or functional entities described below.

The components executed on the computing device 103, for example,include an electronic commerce system 127, a network page server 130, adynamic site management application 133, and other applications,services, processes, systems, engines, or functionality not discussed indetail herein. The electronic commerce system 127 is executed in orderto facilitate the online purchase of items over the network 121. Theelectronic commerce system 127 also performs various backend functionsassociated with the online presence of one or more merchants in order tofacilitate the online purchase of items. For example, the electroniccommerce system 127 generates network pages 136 such as web pages orother types of network content that are provided to clients 118 for thepurposes of selecting items for purchase, rental, download, lease, orother forms of consumption. The electronic commerce system 127 may alsofacilitate a keyword-based search of an item catalog.

The network page server 130 is executed to serve up network pages 136generated by the electronic commerce system 127 or other forms ofnetwork content to the client 118 over the network 121. In variousembodiments, the network page server 130 may comprise a commerciallyavailable hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) server application such as,for example, Apache® HTTP Server, Apache® Tomcat®, Microsoft® InternetInformation Services (IIS), etc.

The dynamic site management application 133 is executed to obtain topicsand establish dynamic network sites that are relevant to the topics. Thedynamic network sites may be search engine optimized for each topic. Adynamic network site may offer items for sale that are relevant to therespective topic. Further, in some embodiments, a dynamic network sitemay include item offerings collected from external network sites. Thedynamic site management application 133 may be configured to scale up orscale down the computing resources allocated to the network siteautomatically as desired.

The data stored in the data store 124 includes, for example, catalogdata 139, customer data 142, network page data 145, external catalogdata 148, popular topics 151, search engine optimization (SEO) rules154, site template data 157, feedback data 158, and potentially otherdata. The catalog data 139 includes data regarding a plurality of items160 that are offered to customers through an electronic marketplace ofone or more merchants. An item 160 may correspond to any good, product,service, software item, multimedia item, or other item that may beoffered for sale, purchase, download, lease, or any other form ofconsumption as can be appreciated. Each item 160 may include variousdata such as, for example, title, description, price, weight, customerreviews, categories, quantities, conditions, options, and/or other data.

The customer data 142 includes various data relating to a profile of acustomer. Such data may include, for example, contact information,address information, order history, page view history, click trails,etc. Such data may be useful, for example, in marketing items 160 to thecustomer that are related to other items 160 that the customer hasordered or viewed in the past. The network page data 145 includesvarious data used in generating network pages 136, such as, for example,code, text, style sheets, graphics, images, audio, video, and so on.

The external catalog data 148 includes data regarding offerings of items160 by external merchants. Such offerings may be aggregated by thedynamic site management application 133 or another application byaccessing one or more externally hosted network sites associated withthe third-party merchants. The external catalog data 148 may includeuniform resource locators (URLs) of network pages on the externalnetwork sites such as, for example, detail network pages with moreinformation about the item 160, network pages that facilitate orderingof the item 160, and so on. In one embodiment, the external catalog data148 may also be obtained from data feeds provided by the externalmerchants.

The popular topics 151 correspond to topics that are currentlysignificant to online users. To this end, the popular topics 151 maycorrespond to search terms that are currently the most popular, orsearch terms that are frequently searched beyond a threshold. Lists ofsuch search terms may be published by the search engines. Each of thepopular topics 151 may include one or more keywords and/or otherpunctuation for search terms that are significant to a search engine,such as, for example, Boolean connectors. In one embodiment, the populartopics 151 may be manually specified by a user.

The SEO rules 154 are rules employed to optimize network sites andnetwork content for favorable indexing and ranking by search engines. Tothis end, the SEO rules 154 may describe approaches to forming domainnames based at least in part on a search term or another term that is tobe optimized. As a non-limiting example, an SEO rule 154 may specifythat adding the top-level domain “.com” to a search term is the mostpreferred domain name for SEO. Further, adding the top-level domain“.net” to a search term may be the next most preferred domain name forSEO. If those domain names are unavailable, adding “online.com” to asearch term may be the next most preferred domain name for SEO. It isunderstood that many similar examples may be used as needed toaccomplish domain name optimization for search engines.

Additionally, the SEO rules 154 may describe how to form a network pagebased at least in part on a search term or other term in such a way thatthe network page is likely to receive favorable indexing and rankingfrom search engines. Such SEO rules 154 may govern, for example, keywordrepetition in content, keyword insertion in “meta” tags, keywordinsertion in titles, keyword insertion in alternate image text, keywordinsertion in links and headings, keyword insertion in URLs, and so on.As another non-limiting example, SEO rules 154 may also direct thatlinks to a first network site be inserted in network pages of a secondnetwork site in order to increase the search engine ranking of the firstnetwork site.

The site template data 157 includes code and other data used ingenerating dynamic network pages 136 from a dynamic network site managedby the dynamic site management application 133. In various embodiments,the site template data 157 may include Perl code, PHP code, Ruby onRails code, ColdFusion code, FreeMarker code, Java Server Pages, ActiveServer Pages, and/or other code that may be used to generate networkpages 136 dynamically. In one embodiment, a site template in the sitetemplate data 157 may be configured to generate network pages 136 for anetwork site according to the domain name of the site as obtained froman HTTP request or other network page request.

The feedback data 158 includes any information obtained from the dynamicnetwork sites that may be used to improve marketing, merchandising, orother features of the electronic commerce system 127. As a non-limitingexample, it may be determined that a customer purchases an item from anexternal network site. The purchase price and/or other information maybe stored in the feedback data 158. The electronic commerce system 127may use the feedback data 158, for example, to adjust pricing orpresentation of items 160 in an online catalog, better tailorrecommendations of items 160 to users, and/or perform other functions.

The computing device 106 may comprise, for example, a server computer orany other system providing computing capability. Alternatively, aplurality of computing devices 106 may be employed that are arranged,for example, in one or more server banks or computer banks or otherarrangements. For example, a plurality of computing devices 106 togethermay comprise a cloud computing resource, a grid computing resource,and/or any other distributed computing arrangement. Such computingdevices 106 may be located in a single installation or may bedistributed among many different geographical locations. For purposes ofconvenience, the computing device 106 is referred to herein in thesingular. Even though the computing device 106 is referred to in thesingular, it is understood that a plurality of computing devices 106 maybe employed in the various arrangements as described above.

Where the computing device 106 comprises a cloud computing resource, thecomputing device 106 may also comprise an elastic computing resource.The computing device 106 may include a multitude of virtual machineinstances. In various embodiments, a user may be able to launch newvirtual machine instances and/or stop existing virtual machine instancesas desired. Such an elastic computing resource facilitates scalingcomputing resources up or down as needed for applications.

Various applications and/or other functionality may be executed in thecomputing device 106 according to various embodiments. Also, variousdata is stored in a data store 163 that is accessible to the computingdevice 106. The data store 163 may be representative of a plurality ofdata stores 124 as can be appreciated. The data stored in the data store163, for example, is associated with the operation of the variousapplications and/or functional entities described below.

The components executed on the computing device 106, for example,include a plurality of network page servers 166 a, 166 b . . . 166N andother applications, services, processes, systems, engines, orfunctionality not discussed in detail herein. Each network page server166 is executed to serve up network pages 136 of dynamic network sites.In various embodiments, each network page server 166 may comprise acommercially available hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) serverapplication such as, for example, Apache® HTTP Server, Apache® Tomcat®,Microsoft® Internet Information Services (IIS), etc. In one embodiment,each network page server 166 may host one dynamic network site. Further,multiple network page servers 166 may host the same dynamic network siteas needed to meet demand. In another embodiment, one network page server166 may host multiple dynamic network sites by way of virtual hosting.In one embodiment, each network page server 166 may be executed in adifferent computing device 106 or a different virtual machine instanceof the computing device 106.

The data stored in the data store 163 includes, for example, dynamicsite data 169 and potentially other data. The dynamic site data 169 mayinclude configuration settings and templates associated with the dynamicnetwork sites hosted through the computing device 106. In oneembodiment, the dynamic site data 169 comprises virtual machine imagesthat include the network page servers 166 and their respectiveconfigurations.

The computing devices 109, 112, and 115 may comprise, for example,server computers or any other systems providing computing capability.Alternatively, a plurality of computing devices 109, 112, and 115 may beemployed that are arranged, for example, in one or more server banks orcomputer banks or other arrangements. For example, a plurality ofcomputing devices 109, 112, and 115 together may comprise a cloudcomputing resource, a grid computing resource, and/or any otherdistributed computing arrangement. Such computing devices 109, 112, and115 may be located in a single installation or may be distributed amongmany different geographical locations. In one embodiment, each of thecomputing devices 109, 112, and 115 is operated by a different entityrelative to the computing device 103 and the electronic marketplacehosted thereon. For purposes of convenience, each computing device 109,112, and 115 is referred to herein in the singular. Even though eachcomputing device 109, 112, and 115 is referred to in the singular, it isunderstood that a plurality of computing devices 109, 112, and 115 maybe employed in the various arrangements as described above.

Various applications and/or other functionality may be executed in eachcomputing device 109, 112, and 115 according to various embodiments.Also, various data may be stored in one or more data stores that areaccessible to the respective computing device 109, 112, and 115. Thecomponents executed on the computing device 109, for example, include anexternal electronic commerce system 172 and other applications,services, processes, systems, engines, or functionality not discussed indetail herein. The components executed on the computing device 112, forexample, include a domain name registration system 175 and otherapplications, services, processes, systems, engines, or functionalitynot discussed in detail herein. The components executed on the computingdevice 115, for example, include a search engine 178 and otherapplications, services, processes, systems, engines, or functionalitynot discussed in detail herein.

The external electronic commerce system 172 is executed in order tofacilitate the online purchase of items 160 over the network 121. Theexternal electronic commerce system 172 also performs various backendfunctions associated with the online presence of one or more merchantsin order to facilitate the online purchase of items 160. For example,the external electronic commerce system 172 generates network pages 136such as web pages or other types of network content that are provided toclients 118 for the purposes of selecting items for purchase, rental,download, lease, or other forms of consumption. The external electroniccommerce system 172 may also facilitate a keyword-based search of anitem catalog. In contrast with the electronic commerce system 127, theexternal electronic commerce system 172 may be operated by a differententity and may use different software. Although the dynamic sitemanagement application 133 may have full access to the catalog data 139and other data on the back end of the electronic commerce system 127,the dynamic site management application 133 may have only limited accessto the external electronic commerce system 172, similar to the accessgranted to any public client 118.

The domain name registration system 175 is executed to facilitate theregistration of domain names in the domain name system through a domainregistrar. A particular domain name registration system 175 may becapable of registering domain names under one or multiple top-leveldomain names. As a non-limiting example, one domain name registrationsystem 175 may be used for registering domain names under “.info,” whileanother domain name registration system 175 may be used for registeringdomain names under “.biz.” The domain name registration system 175 mayalso be capable of receiving an electronic payment for the domain nameregistration. Additionally, the domain name registration system 175 mayprovide a “whois” search interface to determine the registration statusof a domain name; i.e., whether the domain name is available orunavailable. The domain name registration system 175 may be configuredwith manual and/or automatic registration interfaces in variousembodiments.

The search engine 178 corresponds to any network site or applicationthat provides a search function. The search engine 178 may correspond toan online application that crawls and indexes network sites, such as,for example, Google®, Bing®, and others. The search engine 178 may alsocorrespond to an online application that facilitates searches of asocial network, product catalog, or other types of databases.Non-limiting examples of such search engines 178 may include Facebook®,Twitter®, etc. In one embodiment, the search engine 178 obtains a queryand provides a ranked list of network pages or other items from an indexthat match the query or are otherwise relevant to the query. In oneembodiment, the search engine 178 may make lists of popular search termsavailable that correspond to queries that have been frequently processedby the search engine 178 within a defined time frame. The rankingapproaches used by the search engine 178 may be proprietary and unknownto the entity that controls the dynamic site management application 133.Accordingly, the SEO rules 154 may represent merely approximations ashow best to craft a dynamic network site to rank relatively wellaccording to the logic employed by a particular search engine 178.

The client 118 is representative of a plurality of client devices thatmay be coupled to the network 121. The client 118 may comprise, forexample, a processor-based system such as a computer system. Such acomputer system may be embodied in the form of a desktop computer, alaptop computer, personal digital assistants, cellular telephones,smartphones, set-top boxes, music players, web pads, tablet computersystems, game consoles, electronic book readers, or other devices withlike capability. The client 118 may include a display 181. The display181 may comprise, for example, one or more devices such as cathode raytubes (CRTs), liquid crystal display (LCD) screens, gas plasma-basedflat panel displays, LCD projectors, or other types of display devices,etc.

The client 118 may be configured to execute various applications such asa browser 184 and/or other applications. The browser 184 may be executedin a client 118, for example, to access and render network pages 136,such as web pages, or other network content served up by the computingdevice 103, 106, 109, 115 and/or other servers, thereby generating arendered network page 187 on the display 181. The client 118 may beconfigured to execute applications beyond browser 184 such as, forexample, email applications, instant message applications, and/or otherapplications.

Next, a general description of the operation of the various componentsof the networked environment 100 is provided. To begin, the dynamic sitemanagement application 133 is manually or automatically configured toestablish one or more dynamic network sites upon receipt of the populartopics 151 from a user, from a search engine 178, or from anothernetwork site that provides lists of popular topics 151. The dynamic sitemanagement application 133 searches a catalog of items 160 associatedwith an electronic marketplace using the electronic commerce system 127.If a sufficient number of items 160 are relevant to a popular topic 151,a dynamic network site is established.

The dynamic site management application 133 registers an optimizeddomain name for the site with the domain name registration system 175.Multiple domain names may be generated according to a search engineoptimization preference, and the most preferred domain name may not beavailable. If a most preferred domain name is unavailable, a next mostpreferred domain name may be registered, and so on. In one embodiment,multiple domain names may be registered for a given popular topic 151.

Items 160 offered for sale by external electronic commerce systems 172may be determined, and the external catalog data 148 may be populated.Items 160 that are relevant to the popular topic 151 that are offered byexternal merchants may be determined and included within the dynamicnetwork site, if desired. A site template from the site template data157 may be located and used in establishing the dynamic network site.Configuration settings may be stored in the dynamic site data 169. Thedynamic network site is generated with a goal of being optimized forindexing and ranking within one or more search engines 178 for the givenpopular topic 151.

One or more network page servers 166 may be configured by the dynamicsite management application 133 to serve up network pages 136 of thedynamic network site. In various embodiments, the computing resources inthe computing device 106 that are assigned for serving up the dynamicnetwork site may be scaled up or scaled down as appropriate based onpage requests and/or other metrics of resource usage.

Ultimately, a customer at a client 118 may discover the dynamic networksite through a search in the search engine 178. Upon a request beingsent to the appropriate network page server 166, a network page 136 maybe generated by the network page server 166 according to the dynamicsite data 169. The network page 136 may offer various items 160 for salethat relate to the given popular topic 151. The network page 136 mayinclude links to other network pages 136 served up by the network pageserver 130 to initiate and complete orders for items 160 through theelectronic commerce system 127.

The network page 136 generated by the network page server 166 may alsoinclude item offerings from external merchants. Thus, the dynamicnetwork site may correspond to a “meta-shopping” site, where theofferings of multiple unrelated merchants may be compared by customers.When a customer expresses an interest in such item offerings, theinterest may be associated with customer data 142 and recorded in thefeedback data 158 for future use in marketing, merchandising, etc.

In one example, it may be inferred that a customer has purchased an item160 from an external merchant when a customer views an item 160 on thenetwork site of the external merchant and does not return to the dynamicnetwork site. In another example, it may be inferred that a customer haspurchased an item 160 from an external merchant when a customer clicks abuy link for the item 160 as presented in the dynamic network site anddoes not return to the dynamic network site. In yet another example, theexternal merchant may be a partner, subsidiary, or other affiliate ofthe operator of the electronic commerce system 127. In such a case, theexternal electronic commerce system 172 may provide direct feedback asto whether a customer referred by the dynamic network site has purchasedan item 160.

Such feedback regarding the external purchases and/or external pageviews of customers may be stored in the feedback data 158 and used forimproving various aspects of the electronic commerce system 127. Suchfeedback data 158 may be manually or automatically analyzed to determinewhy the customers did not purchase items 160 through the electroniccommerce system 127. Accordingly, prices, presentations, and selectionsof items 160 may be adjusted by the electronic commerce system 127 to bemore competitive with the external electronic commerce systems 172. Inone embodiment, the feedback data 158, or the results of analyzing thefeedback data 158, may be published for the use of other companies.

Moving on to FIG. 2, shown is an example user interface 200 rendered ina browser 184 (FIG. 1) executed in a client 118 (FIG. 1) in thenetworked environment 100 (FIG. 1). In particular, FIG. 2 depicts arendered network page 187 that has been served up by a network pageserver 166 (FIG. 1). The rendered network page 187 corresponds to a homepage of a dynamic network site created for a particular popular topic151 (FIG. 1) identified by the dynamic site management application 133(FIG. 1). The topic used in FIG. 2 is “super shoes.”

The heading 203 for the rendered network page 187 identifies the dynamicnetwork site as being accessible through the domain name“supershoesonline.site.” Such a domain name may be generated by thedynamic site management application 133 according to the topic of “supershoes” and an SEO rule 154 (FIG. 1) for forming a domain name, forexample, by concatenating words of the topic with “online.site.” Theheading 203 also identifies the dynamic network site as being affiliatedwith “E-Retailer,” which may correspond, for example, to the proprietorof the electronic marketplace serviced by the electronic commerce system127 (FIG. 1).

The rendered network page 187 includes content 206 that is search engineoptimized for the topic of “super shoes.” To this end, the content 206includes various repetitions of “super shoes.” In one embodiment, thecontent 206 may comprise a template where the topic is to be inserted atvarious predefined locations.

The rendered network page 187 may also include a search tool 209. Thesearch tool 209, which in this non-limiting example, comprises a textentry box and a submit button, may instead comprise other types of userinterface components as can be appreciated. In this case, the searchtool 209 is pre-populated with the topic, which indicates that a searchfor items 160 (FIG. 1) in the catalog data 139 (FIG. 1) of theelectronic marketplace that match the topic may be carried out ifdesired.

A plurality of related item results 212 a, 212 b, and 212 c are includedin the rendered network page 187. It is understood that any number ofrelated item results 212 may be included in the rendered network page187 depending, for example, on the relevant items 160 in the catalog,the screen space available in the rendered network page 187, and/orother factors. Each of the related item results 212 corresponds to anitem 160 that is deemed by the dynamic site management application 133or another application to be relevant to the topic.

The related item result 212 a corresponds to an item 160 titled“Crocodile Super Shoe,” which is offered for sale by a third-partyexternal merchant of “Shoes.site.” The dynamic site managementapplication 133 may have considered the item 160 particularly relevantbecause the title contains the topic keywords. The related item result212 a may include one or more links to an external network site operatedby the external merchant. Such links may point to detailed network pages136 regarding the item, network pages 136 that facilitate ordering theitem 160 from the external merchant, and so on. Because the item 160 isoffered by the external electronic commerce system 172 (FIG. 1), thedynamic site management application 133 may have only limitedinformation about the item 160, i.e., data that corresponds to the itemoffering through the external electronic commerce system 172.

The related item result 212 b corresponds to an item 160 titled “ClaudeHaas Ultra Shoe,” which is offered for sale through the electroniccommerce system 127 by the proprietor of the electronic marketplace. Invarious embodiments, the related item result 212 b may includeadditional information about the item 160 relative to external offeringsbecause the dynamic site management application 133 has access to theunderlying catalog data 139. Although the title in the related itemresult 212 b does not include an exact match for the topic keywords, therelated item result 212 b may still rank relatively well in order topromote items 160 that are offered for sale by the proprietor of theelectronic marketplace.

The related item result 212 c corresponds to another external offeringfrom a different external merchant, “Zapatos.site.” The title of theitem 160 is “Super Comfo Elite Shoe,” which includes the topic keywordsbut splits them. Accordingly, the related item result 212 c may not rankas well as an exact match. It is understood that the dynamic sitemanagement application 133 may employ various other factors in rankingthe related item results 212, such as, for example, number of sales,number of views, profit, sales price, merchant affiliation status withthe electronic marketplace, etc.

It is noted that although the related item results 212 are fromdifferent sources, which are internal or external, the related itemresults 212 may have the same prominence in the listing of related itemresults 212. In other words, in various embodiments, items 160 soldthrough the electronic marketplace may be featured with the sameprominence in the rendered network page 187 as the external itemofferings.

Referring next to FIG. 3, shown is a flowchart that provides one exampleof the operation of a portion of the dynamic site management application133 according to various embodiments. Specifically, the portion of thedynamic site management application 133 depicted in FIG. 3 relates tothe establishment of network sites for search terms and/or other topics.It is understood that the flowchart of FIG. 3 provides merely an exampleof the many different types of functional arrangements that may beemployed to implement the operation of the portion of the dynamic sitemanagement application 133 as described herein. As an alternative, theflowchart of FIG. 3 may be viewed as depicting an example methodimplemented in the computing device 103 (FIG. 1) according to one ormore embodiments.

Beginning with box 303, the dynamic site management application 133decides whether a topic is to be determined automatically. If the topicis not to be determined automatically, the dynamic site managementapplication 133 moves to box 306 and obtains one or more topics manuallyfrom a user at a client 118 (FIG. 1). Next, in box 309, the dynamic sitemanagement application 133 establishes a network site for each topic.The establishment of a network site will be discussed in further detailwith respect to the flowchart of FIG. 4. Thereafter, the portion of thedynamic site management application 133 ends.

If a topic is to be determined automatically, the dynamic sitemanagement application 133 instead moves to box 312 and obtains popularsearch terms from one or more search engines 178 (FIG. 1). Such popularsearch terms may be stored in the popular topics 151. Alternatively, oradditionally, the popular topics 151 may be pushed to the data store 124(FIG. 1) by way of a data feed.

In box 315, the dynamic site management application 133 determines whichitems 160 (FIG. 1) relate to one of the search terms from the catalogdata 139 (FIG. 1). Such items 160 may be offered for sale by theelectronic commerce system 127 (FIG. 1) through an electronicmarketplace. In one embodiment, the dynamic site management application133 may search the catalog data 139 using an internal search engine tofind items 160 that are relevant to the search term. In one embodiment,the dynamic site management application 133 may be under the control ofthe proprietor of the electronic marketplace or another merchant. In box318, the dynamic site management application 133 determines whether thenumber of relevant items 160 meets a threshold.

If the number of relevant items 160 meets a threshold, the dynamic sitemanagement application 133 moves to box 321 and establishes a dynamicnetwork site that offers items 160 that relate to the search term. Theestablishment of a network site will be discussed in further detail withrespect to the flowchart of FIG. 4. The dynamic site managementapplication 133 next moves to box 324. If the dynamic site managementapplication 133 determines in box 318 that the number of relevant items160 does not meet the threshold, the dynamic site management application133 also moves to box 324.

In box 324, the dynamic site management application 133 determineswhether another search term or topic remains to be processed. If anothersearch term or topic remains to be processed, the dynamic sitemanagement application 133 returns to box 315 and determines the items160 relating to the next search term or topic that are in the itemcatalog. Otherwise, the portion of the dynamic site managementapplication 133 ends.

Turning now to FIG. 4, shown is a flowchart that provides one example ofthe operation of another portion of the dynamic site managementapplication 133 according to various embodiments. Specifically, theportion of the dynamic site management application 133 depicted in FIG.4 relates to an establishment of a dynamic network site in the computingdevice 106 (FIG. 1). It is understood that the flowchart of FIG. 4provides merely an example of the many different types of functionalarrangements that may be employed to implement the operation of theportion of the dynamic site management application 133 as describedherein. As an alternative, the flowchart of FIG. 4 may be viewed asdepicting an example method implemented in the computing device 103(FIG. 1) according to one or more embodiments.

Beginning with box 403, the dynamic site management application 133generates at least one search engine optimized domain name for a networksite given a particular set of keywords relating to a topic. The dynamicsite management application 133 may employ one or more SEO rules 154(FIG. 1) in order to generate such a domain name. In box 406, thedynamic site management application 133 determines whether the generateddomain name is available. To this end, the dynamic site managementapplication 133 may perform a “whois” lookup through the domain nameregistration system 175 (FIG. 1). If the generated domain name isavailable, the dynamic site management application 133 proceeds to box409.

If the generated domain name is unavailable (for instance, if it ispreviously registered), the dynamic site management application 133continues to box 412 and decides whether to generate another domainname. If another domain name is to be generated, the dynamic sitemanagement application 133 returns to box 403 and generates anotherdomain name. If another domain name is not to be generated, the dynamicsite management application 133 moves to box 415 and obtains a domainname manually. As a non-limiting example, a notification may be sent toa user at a client 118 (FIG. 1) requesting that the user provide adomain name for the topic. In one embodiment, the user may provide thedomain name through a network page-based interface served up by thedynamic site management application 133. Once the domain name isobtained manually, the dynamic site management application 133 alsoproceeds to box 409.

In box 409, the dynamic site management application 133 registers thedomain name with a domain name registration system 175 corresponding toan appropriate domain registrar for the domain name to be registered. Inbox 418, the dynamic site management application 133 configures one ormore network page servers 166 (FIG. 1) executed in the computing device106 to serve up a dynamic network site at the domain name. In oneembodiment, the dynamic site management application 133 may updatedomain name system (DNS) entries in a DNS server to point to networkaddresses of the network page servers 166 that are to serve up thedynamic network site. In box 421, the dynamic site managementapplication 133 allocates an initial quantity of resources on thecomputing device 106 to the network page server(s) 166. For example,where the computing device 106 comprises an elastic computing resource,the dynamic site management application 133 may allocate an initialnumber of virtual machine instances for the network page servers 166.

Next in box 424, the dynamic site management application 133 determineswhether external item offerings are to be included in the dynamicnetwork site. It may be beneficial for the operator of the dynamicnetwork site to include item offerings of external merchant competitorsin order to obtain additional information about customers. Theadditional information, such as whether a customer visits an externalnetwork site or purchases an item 160 (FIG. 1) from a competitor, may beassociated with a profile of the customer in the customer data 142(FIG. 1) and used by the operator of the dynamic network site formarketing and/or other purposes.

If external item offerings are to be included, the dynamic sitemanagement application 133 continues to box 427 and searches forrelevant item offerings on external network sites through one or moreexternal electronic commerce systems 172. The relevant item offeringsmay then be stored in the external catalog data 148 and included in thedynamic network site. The dynamic site management application 133 thencontinues to box 430. If the dynamic site management application 133determines in box 424 that external item offerings are to be excluded,the dynamic site management application 133 also continues to box 430.

In box 430, the dynamic site management application 133 includesrelevant item offerings from an associated electronic marketplace in thenetwork site. To this end, the dynamic site management application 133may use the electronic commerce system 127 (FIG. 1) to search forvarious items 160 that are relevant to the topic of the dynamic networksite. Thereafter, the portion of the dynamic site management application133 ends.

Looking next to FIG. 5, shown is a flowchart that provides one exampleof the operation of yet another portion of the dynamic site managementapplication 133 according to various embodiments. Specifically, theportion of the dynamic site management application 133 depicted in FIG.5 relates to scaling the computing resources associated with a dynamicnetwork site. It is understood that the flowchart of FIG. 5 providesmerely an example of the many different types of functional arrangementsthat may be employed to implement the operation of the portion of thedynamic site management application 133 as described herein. As analternative, the flowchart of FIG. 5 may be viewed as depicting anexample method implemented in the computing device 103 (FIG. 1)according to one or more embodiments.

Beginning with box 503, the dynamic site management application 133determines the resource usage associated with a dynamic network site. Asa non-limiting example, the resource usage may correspond to a networkpage request volume, memory usage, processor usage, and/or other metricsrelating to usage of resources by the network page servers 166 (FIG. 1)that are configured to serve up the dynamic network site. In variousembodiments, the resource usage may be given as a percentage ofresources currently allocated to the dynamic network site. The resourceusage may be averaged and/or processed to reflect a predefined period oftime in various embodiments.

In box 506, the dynamic site management application 133 determineswhether the resource usage meets or exceeds a maximum threshold. Inother words, the dynamic site management application 133 determineswhether the resource usage is greater than a maximum resource usageassociated with the current allocation of resources. Such a maximumresource usage may be determined manually or automatically based, forexample, on desired quality of service, response time, and/or otherfactors.

If the resource usage meets or exceeds the maximum threshold, thedynamic site management application 133 moves to box 509 and allocatesadditional resources on the computing device 106 (FIG. 1) to serve upthe dynamic network site. The amount of scaling up may depend on therelative undercapacity reflected by the resource usage. In oneembodiment, the dynamic site management application 133 may reserve andinstantiate additional virtual machine instances in the computing device106. Thereafter, the portion of the dynamic site management application133 ends.

Otherwise, the dynamic site management application 133 continues to box512 and determines whether the resource usage exceeds a minimumthreshold. If so, the current allocation of resources is both adequateand not excessive, and no scaling of the current allocation of resourcesis performed. Thereafter, the portion of the dynamic site managementapplication 133 ends.

Otherwise, the resource usage meets or falls beneath a minimumthreshold. Thus, an excessive amount of resources are currentlyallocated given the resource usage. The dynamic site managementapplication 133 continues to box 515 and deallocates resources to serveup the dynamic network site. In scaling down the resources, the dynamicsite management application 133 may stop one or more of the virtualmachine instances in the computing device 106 that are allocated to thedynamic network site. The amount of scaling down may depend on therelative overcapacity indicated by the resource usage.

In box 518, the dynamic site management application 133 determineswhether the dynamic network site is to be decommissioned. As anon-limiting example, the topic of the dynamic network site may be passéand the dynamic network site may be receiving few if any visits. If thedynamic network site is to be decommissioned, the dynamic sitemanagement application 133 moves to box 521 and further deallocatesresources of the dynamic network site.

In various embodiments, the dynamic site management application 133 mayconfigure a placeholder network page server 166 to serve up the networksite. For example, the domain name of the dynamic network site may beadded to a plurality of domain names that are virtual hosts on theplaceholder network page server 166. In one embodiment, the virtual hostdetermines a search query for the electronic commerce system 127(FIG. 1) that is pre-populated in a network page 136 (FIG. 1) generatedby the placeholder network page server 166. Thereafter, the portion ofthe dynamic site management application 133 ends. If the dynamic networksite is not to be decommissioned, the dynamic site managementapplication 133 also ends.

With reference to FIG. 6, shown is a flowchart that provides one exampleof the operation of a portion of the network page server 166 accordingto various embodiments. It is understood that the flowchart of FIG. 6provides merely an example of the many different types of functionalarrangements that may be employed to implement the operation of theportion of the network page server 166 as described herein. As analternative, the flowchart of FIG. 6 may be viewed as depicting anexample method implemented in the computing device 106 (FIG. 1)according to one or more embodiments.

Beginning with box 603, the network page server 166 obtains a requestfor a network page 136 (FIG. 1) on a dynamic network site from a client118 (FIG. 1). In box 606, the network page server 166 generates therequested network page 136. The generated network page 136 may includeofferings of items 160 (FIG. 1) from an associated electronicmarketplace, where the items 160 are selected from the catalog data 139.The generated network page 136 may also include offerings of items 160from external network sites, where the items 160 are determined from theexternal catalog data 148 (FIG. 1). In box 609, the requested networkpage 136 is sent to the client 118 for rendering by the browser 184(FIG. 1).

In box 612, the network page server 166 obtains an indication of aninterest in at least one of the offerings from the client 118. Forexample, a customer at the client 118 may select a link or other userinterface component in the network page 136 to order an item 160 orobtain more information about an item 160. Consequently, the browser 184may be configured to send an indication of an interest in thecorresponding item 160 to the network page server 166. In oneembodiment, this is accomplished through redirection by the network pageserver 166. In one embodiment, it may be inferred that a customer haspurchased an item 160 from an external electronic commerce system 172when a customer selects a link to purchase the item 160 and does notsubsequently return to the dynamic network site. In another embodiment,the external electronic commerce system 172 may communicate with thenetwork page server 166, electronic commerce system 127 (FIG. 1), and/orother applications to indicate that the customer has purchased the item160.

In box 615, the indication of interest in the item offering isassociated with a profile of the customer in the customer data 142 (FIG.1). In one embodiment, the customer may be identified through a cookiethat may be correlated to an existing account in the electronicmarketplace. Whether the customer has purchased, viewed, or indicatedanother type of interest in the item may be stored in feedback data 158(FIG. 1). The feedback data 158 and/or the customer associations withthe feedback data 158 may be used by the operator of the associatedelectronic marketplace to improve offerings of items 160 in theassociated electronic marketplace. Additionally, the feedback data 158and/or the customer associations may be published to third parties insome embodiments. Thereafter, the portion of the network page server 166ends.

With reference to FIG. 7, shown is a schematic block diagram of thecomputing device 103 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The computing device 103 includes at least one processorcircuit, for example, having a processor 703 and a memory 706, both ofwhich are coupled to a local interface 709. To this end, the computingdevice 103 may comprise, for example, at least one server computer orlike device. The local interface 709 may comprise, for example, a databus with an accompanying address/control bus or other bus structure ascan be appreciated.

Stored in the memory 706 are both data and several components that areexecutable by the processor 703. In particular, stored in the memory 706and executable by the processor 703 are the electronic commerce system127, the network page server 130, the dynamic site managementapplication 133, and potentially other applications. Also stored in thememory 706 may be a data store 124 and other data. In addition, anoperating system may be stored in the memory 706 and executable by theprocessor 703.

It is understood that there may be other applications that are stored inthe memory 706 and are executable by the processors 703 as can beappreciated. Where any component discussed herein is implemented in theform of software, any one of a number of programming languages may beemployed such as, for example, C, C++, C#, Objective C, Java,Javascript, Perl, PHP, Visual Basic, Python, Ruby, Delphi, Flash, orother programming languages.

A number of software components are stored in the memory 706 and areexecutable by the processor 703. In this respect, the term “executable”means a program file that is in a form that can ultimately be run by theprocessor 703. Examples of executable programs may be, for example, acompiled program that can be translated into machine code in a formatthat can be loaded into a random access portion of the memory 706 andrun by the processor 703, source code that may be expressed in properformat such as object code that is capable of being loaded into a randomaccess portion of the memory 706 and executed by the processor 703, orsource code that may be interpreted by another executable program togenerate instructions in a random access portion of the memory 706 to beexecuted by the processor 703, etc. An executable program may be storedin any portion or component of the memory 706 including, for example,random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), hard drive,solid-state drive, USB flash drive, memory card, optical disc such ascompact disc (CD) or digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, magnetictape, or other memory components.

The memory 706 is defined herein as including both volatile andnonvolatile memory and data storage components. Volatile components arethose that do not retain data values upon loss of power. Nonvolatilecomponents are those that retain data upon a loss of power. Thus, thememory 706 may comprise, for example, random access memory (RAM),read-only memory (ROM), hard disk drives, solid-state drives, USB flashdrives, memory cards accessed via a memory card reader, floppy disksaccessed via an associated floppy disk drive, optical discs accessed viaan optical disc drive, magnetic tapes accessed via an appropriate tapedrive, and/or other memory components, or a combination of any two ormore of these memory components. In addition, the RAM may comprise, forexample, static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random accessmemory (DRAM), or magnetic random access memory (MRAM) and other suchdevices. The ROM may comprise, for example, a programmable read-onlymemory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), anelectrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or otherlike memory device.

Also, the processor 703 may represent multiple processors 703 and thememory 706 may represent multiple memories 706 that operate in parallelprocessing circuits, respectively. In such a case, the local interface709 may be an appropriate network 121 (FIG. 1) that facilitatescommunication between any two of the multiple processors 703, betweenany processor 703 and any of the memories 706, or between any two of thememories 706, etc. The local interface 709 may comprise additionalsystems designed to coordinate this communication, including, forexample, performing load balancing. The processor 703 may be ofelectrical or of some other available construction.

Although the electronic commerce system 127, the network page server130, the dynamic site management application 133, and other varioussystems described herein may be embodied in software or code executed bygeneral purpose hardware as discussed above, as an alternative the samemay also be embodied in dedicated hardware or a combination ofsoftware/general purpose hardware and dedicated hardware. If embodied indedicated hardware, each can be implemented as a circuit or statemachine that employs any one of or a combination of a number oftechnologies. These technologies may include, but are not limited to,discrete logic circuits having logic gates for implementing variouslogic functions upon an application of one or more data signals,application specific integrated circuits having appropriate logic gates,or other components, etc. Such technologies are generally well known bythose skilled in the art and, consequently, are not described in detailherein.

The flowcharts of FIGS. 3-6 show the functionality and operation of animplementation of portions of the dynamic site management application133 and the network page server 166. If embodied in software, each blockmay represent a module, segment, or portion of code that comprisesprogram instructions to implement the specified logical function(s). Theprogram instructions may be embodied in the form of source code thatcomprises human-readable statements written in a programming language ormachine code that comprises numerical instructions recognizable by asuitable execution system such as a processor 703 in a computer systemor other system. The machine code may be converted from the source code,etc. If embodied in hardware, each block may represent a circuit or anumber of interconnected circuits to implement the specified logicalfunction(s).

Although the flowcharts of FIGS. 3-6 show a specific order of execution,it is understood that the order of execution may differ from that whichis depicted. For example, the order of execution of two or more blocksmay be scrambled relative to the order shown. Also, two or more blocksshown in succession in FIGS. 3-6 may be executed concurrently or withpartial concurrence. Further, in some embodiments, one or more of theblocks shown in FIGS. 3-6 may be skipped or omitted. In addition, anynumber of counters, state variables, warning semaphores, or messagesmight be added to the logical flow described herein, for purposes ofenhanced utility, accounting, performance measurement, or providingtroubleshooting aids, etc. It is understood that all such variations arewithin the scope of the present disclosure.

Also, any logic or application described herein, including theelectronic commerce system 127, the network page server 130, the dynamicsite management application 133, and the network page server 166, thatcomprises software or code can be embodied in any non-transitorycomputer-readable medium for use by or in connection with an instructionexecution system such as, for example, a processor 703 in a computersystem or other system. In this sense, the logic may comprise, forexample, statements including instructions and declarations that can befetched from the computer-readable medium and executed by theinstruction execution system. In the context of the present disclosure,a “computer-readable medium” can be any medium that can contain, store,or maintain the logic or application described herein for use by or inconnection with the instruction execution system. The computer-readablemedium can comprise any one of many physical media such as, for example,magnetic, optical, or semiconductor media. More specific examples of asuitable computer-readable medium would include, but are not limited to,magnetic tapes, magnetic floppy diskettes, magnetic hard drives, memorycards, solid-state drives, USB flash drives, or optical discs. Also, thecomputer-readable medium may be a random access memory (RAM) including,for example, static random access memory (SRAM) and dynamic randomaccess memory (DRAM), or magnetic random access memory (MRAM). Inaddition, the computer-readable medium may be a read-only memory (ROM),a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmableread-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmableread-only memory (EEPROM), or other type of memory device.

It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of thepresent disclosure are merely possible examples of implementations setforth for a clear understanding of the principles of the disclosure.Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-describedembodiment(s) without departing substantially from the spirit andprinciples of the disclosure. All such modifications and variations areintended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure andprotected by the following claims.

Therefore, the following is claimed:
 1. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium embodying a program executable in a computingdevice, the program comprising: code that obtains a frequent search termfrom a search engine; code that determines a set of products in aproduct catalog that are relevant to the frequent search term; code thatestablishes a network site that is customized for the frequent searchterm when the set of products includes at least a predetermined numberof products, the code that establishes including: code thatautomatically generates a domain name for the network site based atleast in part on the frequent search term; code that automaticallyregisters the domain name with a domain registrar when the domain nameis available; and code that allocates computing resources to the networksite in a cloud computing resource; code that automatically scales thecomputing resources allocated to the network site in the cloud computingresource based at least in part on a measure of computing resource usageassociated with the network site; code that generates a network page ofthe network site in response to a request, the network page offering aplurality of the products for sale and including a plurality of externalproduct offerings that are relevant to the frequent search term and areassociated with a plurality of external network sites; and code thatassociates a profile of a customer with an interest expressed by thecustomer in one of the external product offerings.
 2. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the interest is expressedby the customer when the customer selects a link to a network page ofone of the external network sites, and the link is associated with theone of the external product offerings.
 3. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of theproducts and the external product offerings are featured with a sameprominence in the network page.
 4. A system, comprising: at least onecomputing device; and a dynamic site management application executablein the at least one computing device, the dynamic site managementapplication comprising: logic that obtains a set of search terms thatare associated with at least one search engine; logic that identifies arespective set of items in an item catalog for each of the search terms,the items in each respective set being relevant for a corresponding oneof the search terms; logic that establishes a respective network sitefor each of the search terms when the respective set of items includesat least a predefined number of items, the respective network siteoffering at least some of the respective set of items for sale; logicthat automatically generates a domain name for the respective networksite based at least in part on the corresponding search term; and logicthat automatically registers the domain name with a domain registrarwhen the domain name is available.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein therespective network site includes content that is search engine optimizedfor the corresponding search term.
 6. The system of claim 4, wherein thedynamic site management application further comprises: logic thatobtains another domain name from a user when the domain name isunavailable; and logic that registers the another domain name with thedomain registrar when the another domain name is available.
 7. Thesystem of claim 4, wherein the dynamic site management applicationfurther comprises: logic that generates an external item catalogassociated with at least one external merchant by querying at least oneexternal network site; and logic that includes a plurality of itemofferings from the external item catalog on the respective network site,the item offerings being relevant to the corresponding search term. 8.The system of claim 7, wherein an item search engine associated with theat least one external merchant is queried by the logic that generatesthe external item catalog.
 9. The system of claim 4, wherein the logicthat establishes the respective network site further comprises logicthat allocates an initial quantity of machine instances in a cloudcomputing resource to the respective network site.
 10. The system ofclaim 9, wherein the dynamic site management application furthercomprises: logic that monitors a resource usage associated with therespective network site in the cloud computing resource; logic thatallocates a first quantity of machine instances in the cloud computingresource to the respective network site when the resource usage meets afirst threshold; and logic that deallocates a second quantity of machineinstances in the cloud computing resource from the respective networksite when the resource usage meets a second threshold.
 11. The system ofclaim 4, wherein the logic that establishes the respective network sitefurther comprises logic that configures at least one network pagetemplate to generate at least one network page for the respectivenetwork site based at least in part on the corresponding search term.12. The system of claim 4, wherein the logic that establishes therespective network site further comprises logic that configures avirtual host corresponding to the respective network site on a networkpage server that is shared by a plurality of the respective networksites established for the search terms.
 13. The system of claim 4,wherein the dynamic site management application further comprises logicthat decommissions the respective network site when a measure of sitetraffic associated with the respective network site meets adecommissioning threshold.
 14. A method, comprising the steps of:obtaining, in at least one computing device, a specification of a topic;determining, in the at least one computing device, a plurality ofexternal item offerings associated with at least one external merchantthat are relevant to the topic; determining, in the at least onecomputing device, a plurality of items in an item catalog of anelectronic marketplace that are relevant to the topic; establishing, inthe at least one computing device, a network site that is customized forthe topic when at least a predefined number of the items are determined,the network site offering the items for sale and including the externalitem offerings; automatically generating, in the at least one computingdevice, a domain name for the network site, the domain name beingrelevant to the topic; and automatically registering, in the at leastone computing device, the domain name with a domain registrar when thedomain name is available.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the stepof automatically generating the domain name further comprisesgenerating, in the at least one computing device, a list of domain namesbased at least in part on the topic, the list being ordered according toa search engine optimization preference; and wherein the step ofautomatically registering the domain name further comprises: attempting,in the at least one computing device, to register a most preferred oneof the domain names with the domain registrar; and attempting, in the atleast one computing device, to register a next most preferred one of thedomain names with the domain registrar when the most preferred one ofthe domain names is unavailable.
 16. The method of claim 14, wherein thenetwork site is established by a proprietor of the electronicmarketplace.
 17. The method of claim 14, wherein each one of theexternal item offerings presented by the network site includes a link toan external network site of the respective external merchant that isassociated with the respective one of the external item offerings. 18.The method of claim 14, further comprising the steps of: obtaining, inthe at least one computing device, a request for a network page of thenetwork site from a customer of the electronic marketplace; determining,in the at least one computing device, that the customer has expressed aninterest in at least one of the external item offerings; andassociating, in the at least one computing device, a profile of thecustomer with the interest in the at least one of the external itemofferings.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the interest expressed bythe customer corresponds to a purchase of the at least one of theexternal item offerings.
 20. The method of claim 18, further comprisingthe step of adjusting, in the at least one computing device, a priceassociated with at least one of the items based at least in part on theinterest expressed by the customer in the at least one of the externalitem offerings.